Letters

The impact of free museum entry

Charlotte Higgins is right. I am one of those deprecated American tourists who have been visiting the UK annually, or semi-annually, since about 1982 (This treasure is ours – it's a feeling too precious to lose, 29 November). Now I could afford the admission fees but I personally observed how Labour's no-fee policy changed museum attendance. During the fee era, when I would visit the V&A, there would be few attendees, and the "natives" attending could be characterised as over 45. Dropping fees had a visible impact: younger women with baby carriages and families with children of all ages suddenly became common. The same was true for the other museums which had charged.

I stress these increases in visitors were from "natives", not tourists. Yesterday I was again visiting the V&A and it was still overrun with "natives". I live about 13 miles from the US Capitol. The many museums of the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, and the Library of Congress are free and crowded with visitors, most of them "natives" and children of immigrants – no matter how long ago they may have entered the US. Unlike the UK, we do not provide much in the way of support for our many excellent provincial museums which is why those in New York City, say, charge substantial fees.David M WhalinVirginia, US

• The counterview to Charlotte Higgins's, especially at a time of cuts to benefits, is that free museum entry is a luxury too expensive to maintain. The introduction of museum charges by Ted Heath's government proved an admirable way of getting a scientist (of sorts) in front of some art by encouraging me to visit more, rather than fewer, London museums. Having invested in an annual ticket valid at them all, I was determined to extract the maximum value from it.Brian HughesCheltenham, Gloucestershire

Sign up for the Guardian Today

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.